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Connect How To: Stereo Plug

Randy — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:44:06 +0000

Here is a basic diagram on how to wire a 1/4″ or 1/8″ (3.5 mm) stereo plug. If you are going to use it for speaker connections, you do not want to use shielded cable.

Wiring Diagram: 1/4" or 1/8" Stereo Plug

Connect How To: Sound Card Connections

Randy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:33:09 +0000

Here is a diagram of some of the typical sound card input and output connections on a computer.

Computer Sound Card Connections

There are normally at least 3 jacks (holes) and a rectangular connector in the sound card section of your computer. The audio output jack, the microphone input jack, the line input jack, and the game port. The 3 similar jacks accept a 1/8″ or 3.5mm (same size) plug. Of course, higher end cards may have more of these types of jacks for extra surround sound speakers, but I am only going to cover the basic type here. The rectangular connector is a 15 pin D-sub connector that’s called the game port.

Audio Output Jack:
The audio output jack is normally color coded green, and is a stereo output for your speakers or headphones.

DO NOT plug your electric guitar amplifier speaker OUTPUT into this jack, or you may have to go shoppin’. You can, however, plug a cord from this audio output jack into your guitar amplifier INPUT to greatly amplify the song playing on your computer. Doing that will also greatly amplify your parent’s/wife’s voice. ;>)

Microphone Jack:
The microphone jack is usually color coded pink and is strictly a low level, mono, microphone input.

Line Input Jack:
The line input jack is usually color coded blue and is for playing or recording music or sounds into your computer from the line output jacks on a keyboard, CD player, etc.

Game Port:
The game port is a 15 pin, D-Sub, input/output (I/O) port for a joystick, game controller, or MIDI device. It’s unique shape and size prevents someone from inserting the connector in wrong, or from inserting the wrong connector in. Here is a diagram of the computer game port pin out:

Computer MIDI Game Port Pin Out

For older computers that don’t have the MIDI capabilities, pin 12 would be connected to ground and pin 15 would be +5V out.

Connect How To: Stereo Adapter, 1/4″ or 1/8″ Plug to two RCA plugs

Randy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:46:17 +0000

Being an ex-band roadie and now a church sound guy, there have been times when I have had to make adapters on the fly. Seems like there are always two things that need to be connected with different types of connections, and troubleshooting problems can be difficult if you don’t know what hooks up to what. Here are some wiring diagrams of adapters I deal with quite a bit.

Stereo Adapter 1/4" - (2)RCA

This adapter works well with connecting a headphone output with a line input or recording input. There are even some stereo speakers that have RCA type input jacks.

As you can see, I have illustrated the right wire as being red and the left wire as being white. The wires aren’t typically those colors, but the casings usually are, and those colors are standard on all the stereo equipment that I’ve ever seen.

Although this diagram illustrates how to wire a 1/4″ stereo plug, it’s the same diagram for a 1/8″ (3.5mm), only smaller.

Connect How To: Your Computer Connections

Randy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:37:21 +0000

The great thing about computer connections is that they were designed to be “idiot proof” for the most part. Very few things can be plugged into the wrong place without force, and if it is plugged into the wrong place, usually no damage is done. All you have to do is match up the shapes of the cable ends to the connector on the back of the computer.

Here’s a quick video that explains some of those connections:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pevq0um0Bn8

There are only 2 exceptions that I can think of where you can get things turned around with negative (but not drastic) results, and that’s the sound card connections and the PS/2 ports.

The PS/2 ports are the 2 small round ones with several pins in them. Your mouse and keyboard plug into these. Typically they are color coded, but not always. There is usually a symbol next to them on the back of the case indicating which one goes where. If you get them switched, no harm done, they just won’t work right. Just turn the computer off, switch them, turn the computer back on, and they should work fine.

I might add that the connectors need to be turned the right way before pushing them in. Never force them in. If they don’t seem to go in relatively easily, inspect the pins to see if any are bent.

Here’s a diagram of the connections on the back of a Dell Dimension: